KFDM parent finalizes bankruptcy plan

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published
12:00 am CST, Thursday, January 21, 2010

Newspaper and television company Freedom Communications, owners of KFDM-TV, filed a new bankruptcy-reorganization plan on Thursday that makes concessions to its lower-tier, unsecured creditors and eliminates the 2 percent stake that the current owners were to retain.

Full ownership of the company would now go to secured lenders, which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, General Electric Capital Corp., Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, and Wachovia Bank. In return, those lenders would cut the amount of debt owed them by Freedom to $325 million from $770 million.

The plan is subject to the approval of a federal bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del.

It was not immediately clear whether the new owners would change Freedom's management and board. Messages left with the banks were not immediately returned Thursday.

Freedom Communications Holdings Inc., which publishes more than two dozen other daily newspapers and operates a handful of television stations, filed for bankruptcy protection last September.

In Texas, Freedom's holdings are The Brownsville Herald, the Valley Morning Star of Harlingen, The Monitor of McAllen, Odessa American, the Mid-Valley Town Crier of Weslaco, and KFDM-TV.